Grease dispensing pump



2 Sheets-Sheet S. H. HOBSON GREASE DIsPENsING PUMP Filed Jar-1f?, 1931 Sept 5, 1933.

Sept.l 5, 1933- s. H. HoBsoN 1,925,695

` GREASE DISPENSING PUMP Filed Jan. '7, 19551v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 5, 1933 1,925,695 GREASE DISPENsiNq PUMP Stanley H. Hobson, Rockford, lIll., assignor to Geo. D. Roper Corporation, Rockford, Ill., a

corporation of Illinois Application January 7, 19,31. Serial No. 507,124

3 claims. (ci. zal-s0) This invention relates to a grease dispensing pump especially designed and adapted for use in garages, filling stations, and wherever it is r desired to dispense accurately metered amounts of grease and other lubricants, as for example into the transmissions and'differentials of motor vehicles.

The heavier lubricants of the kind used in Vtransmissions and dilferentials comes in drums of certain standard sizes `which are'arranged to be stood on end for the removal of the lubricant through an opening in the top from which a friction cap has been removed. It is the principal object of my invention to provide a hand 5 pump on a hood or canopy arranged to fit on the top ofl the drumYK over the opening so as to protect the lubricant from dirt and water from the time `the drum is opened until it has been completely emptied. The hood is made of convex form and with all portions of the surface flush and overhangs the sides of the drum so that anything spilled on it will drain therefrom without getting into the drumY and the top can be wiped clean easily so that the drum with'pump attached will always present a neat appearance.

One important feature of my invention, as above described, lies in the casting ofthe hood in one piece with a hollow upwardly and downwardlyprojecting boss integral therewith so that the pump can be mounted on top of the hood in a neat fashion and the suction pipe through which the lubricant is pumped from the bottom of the drum can be attached to the lower portion of the boss beneath the hood and thereby placed in direct communication with the pump.

Another important feature `of the invention, as above described, consists in the provision of bolt holes inthe hood in a predetermined relation to the suction pipe so that tie bolts can be inserted in the proper holes to fasten the ,hood onto a drum with the bolts entered in the opening in the top` thereof, whether the Aopening be central or eccentric with reference to the top of the drum. I have found that three tie bolts are sufficient to fasten the hood nrmly in place and that rby providing only four holes, one of the three bolts being arranged to be used interchangeably in either oneY of two holes, it is possible to fasten the hood interchangeably to any standard form of drum. A screw is provided to plug up the fourthhole so that no opening is left through the hood for dirt or water to enter the drum.

Another object of my invention consists in the novel fastening of the hand crank to the pump so that the same nds bearing on a journal formed on the pump housing instead of relying upon the driven shaft of the pump for its support, and so that in the fastening of the crank to the shaft provision is made for compressing a spring to place the packing under compression in a stuiiing box through which the shaft projects, in order to avoidthe possibility of leakageA along the shaft at the crank.l The construction` makes forcomplete enclosure of the parts and gives the pump a neat and attractive appearance.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, invwhichc Figure 1 isa vertical section through a drum having the pump of `my invention mounted thereon, anv intermediate portion of the drum andl suction pipe of the pump being broken away to conserve space in the drawing and permit the parts to be shown on a larger scale;

-Fg 2 is a plan View of Fig. l, and Figs.k 3 and 4 are sections taken on the lines 3,-.3 and 4 4' of Fig. 1, looking inthe directions indicated by the arrows. The-same lreference numerals, are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

. Referring to Fig. 1, the reference numeral 10 is applied to a cylindrical drum for grease or other lubricant which is arranged to be placed on end so that 11 constitutes the bottom and 12 the top. An opening 13 is provided in the top 85 12 dened by an inwardly projectingv flange.l

yIt is from this opening that any suitable form of closure, such as a friction cap,`is removed for the dispensing of the contents. In this particular lcase the opening is on center-but in certain cases the opening is centrally of the top. It will presently appear how the device of invention is designed and constructed to permit use interchangeably with drums of eitherkind. I am aware that pumps for dispensing grease and other lubricants from containers of this kind have been provided having a suction pipe 14 passed through the openingY 13 to remove the lubricant from the bottom of the drum. One form ,of such Vpump hasthe lower end of the` suction pipe threaded into a collar 15 bolted, as at 16, onto a `hollow base platel 17, in which the intake passages 18 leading t0 the intake 0r suction port 19, are provided.y A spring pressed breather valve 20 normally` closes KAthe port 19 which, of course, aifords communication for the passages 18 with the lsuction pipe 14. The pump of this construction has the hub 21 of a spider vSlidably received Q11 the pipe 1.4 t0 guide e met ,22 vin 'its movement from the uppermost ppinw indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l to the full line position shown. The float, due to the consistency of the lubricant, rests practically on the surface thereof. When the float reaches the full line position the gasket 23 on the face thereof seals the ends of the passages 18 and prevents the pumping of any more grease. In that way, there is no danger of pumping air when there is very little lubricant left in the drum. The present invention is not concerned with improvements in this portion of the dispenser but, as stated before, is principally concerned with improvements in the pump itself, indicated by the numeral 24, and the construction thereof as a unit with the hood 25.

The hood 25, it should rst be observed, is suitably cast in one piece dished upwardly so that the convex top surface thereof will facilitate drainage of anything that might be spilled thereon. The hood is large enough in diameter to reach well beyond the sides of the drum so that there is no danger of anything dropping therefrom onto the top 12 of the drum and eventually getting into the lubricant therein. Lugs 26 are cast integral with the hood on the underside to support the same on the rim of the drum and at the same time leave an annular air vent opening between the rim of the drum and hood to keep the lubricant in the drum subject to atmospheric pressure to permit pumping the same out of the drum. rlhe fact that the hood is cast also facilitates matters from the standpoint that a hollow boss can be cast integral therewith providing a portion 27 projecting upwardly from the top of the hood and another poruion 28 projecting downwardly from the bottom thereof. A generous fillet is provided about the upwardly projecting portion 27 to make it easy to wipe off the top of .the hood and keep it clean, so that the drum withv the dispensing pump attached will always present a neat appearance.y The top of the portion 27 is flat, as indicated at 29, and permits the-housing of thepump 2e to be bolted thereon from the under side of the hood, as at 30. It is desirable to have the portion 27 as close to one edge of the hood as possible in View of the fact that the pump 2e is to be operated by means Vof a hand crank 31 which must have operating clearance with reference to the rim of the hood. For this reason the passage 32 in the hollow boss is formed to offset the pump in relation to the suction pipe as much as is necessary, it being also necessary to have the suction pipe 14 at least a predetermined distance inwardly lspaced with reference to the rim of the drum,

for a purpose which will now be explained.

The hood is arranged to be clamped down on the drum by means of three tie bolts 33-35, the lower ends 36 of which are bent at right angles to engage beneath the flange of the opening 13 in the top of the drum, and' the upper ends of which are arranged to be slipped through holes in the hood and are threaded to take wind nuts 37. When the nuts are tightened the hood will naturally be drawn down iirmly onto the rim of the drum. The fact that certain drums have the opening off center, as at 13, and others have the opening centrally ofthe top, as indicated by the dot and dash circle 13', shown in Fig. 2, makes it necessarylthat the bolts be properly related with respect to the suction pipe le if the unit is to t interchangeably on drums of either kind. It will at once appear in Fig. 2 that the oifsetting of the pipe 1li with reference to the pump provides for proper clearance for the pipe with reference to the side of a central opening 13 in the top of a drum, while also permitting entry of the pipe through an off center opening 13. The holes for the bolts 33 and 35 are located at the points where the circles 13 and 13 intersect, thus permitting these bolts to be left undisturbed when the hood is shifted from a drum of one kind to one of the other kind. The middle bolt 34 must, however, be shifted from the position shown in Fig. 2 if it is desired to clamp the hood onto a drum having a central opening 13. For that reason, provide a fourth bolt hole 38; the same is threaded to permit pluging it with a screw 39 when the bolt 313; is in the other hole. Both holes for the bolt 34 will, of course, be of the same size and threaded to take the screw 39 interchangeably. it will be apparent that it is a very simple matter to shift the bolt 34 from one position to the other to adapt the hood to use with either type of drum. i

The pump 24 is an ordinary gear pump having intermeshing herringbone gears 40 and 41 mounted, respectively, on an idler spindle d2` and driven shaft 4:3. A suction port 44 establishes communication between the passage 32 and the pumping gears.' The pressure side of these gears has a delivery pipe l5 communicating therewith for the discharge ofthe lubricant through aV meter and suitably through a flexible hose or conduit for direct delivery into a transmission or differential. The hand crank 3l for driving the pump has a handle i8 mounted on the outer end thereof, and the inner end e7 of the crank is crank find its bearing on the pump housing instead of on the shaft e3, so that there will be no likelihood of the shaft eventually working too loose in its bearing in the boss 49. A pin 50 driven through registering holes in the crank and shaft provides a driving connection. This pin can be driven out if it Ashould ever be desired to have access to the packing 51 provided in the stufng bor` 52 formed in the journal portion 48 of the boss i9 about the shaft 43. A pressure ring 53 is arranged to compress theY packing 51 into the stuffing box under the action of a coiled compression spring 54 which fits about the shaft li3 between the crank and the ring, as shown. With this arrangement it is contemplated that the spring 54 will be placed under compression when the crank is brought to operative position on the journal 48 and, of course, will be kept under such compression when the pin 50 is inserted. Under the circumstances, there will be very little danger of any leakage along the shaft and if any lubricant should escape it will serve merely to lubricate the journal 48 to make for easier operation of the hand crank. The construction is of further advantage from the stand claims have been drawn with a ,View to covering.

- all legitimate modincations and adaptations'.

I claim:

1. The combination with a container for 1ubricant or other iiuid material to be dispensed, of a hood arranged to be mounted detachably on the top of said container substantially completely covering the same ior protection thereof against the entry Aof foreign matter through an opening provided in the top of said container, said hood being cast in one piece and formed with a hollow boss integral therewith having an upwardly projecting portion and a downwardly projecting portion in communication with one anothena suction conduit communicating with and depending from the downwardly projecting portion of said boss and arranged to be entered through the opening' in the top of the container into the lubricant therein, and a pump mounted on the upwardly projecting portion of said boss with the suction side thereof in communication through the boss with the suction conduit, said pump being thereby carried on the top of the hood and removable with it from the container as a unit.

2. A structure as set forth in claim 1 includn ing a hand crank attached to the pump for op'- the suctionconduit in properly spaced relation to the rrim portion of the hood for entry interchangeably through the differently located top openings in different containers.

3. Thecombination with a container for 1ubricant or other iiuid material to be dispensed,

of a hood arranged to be mounted detachably` means providing a hollow boss on the hood consisting of an upper portion and a lower portion in communication with one another, a suction conduit communicating with the lower portion and arranged to be entered through the opening in the top of the container, a pump mounted on the upper portion with 'the suction side thereof in communication 'through said boss with the suction conduit, and a hand crank for operating the pump, the upper portion of the boss being disposed close to the rim portion of the hood, whereby to dispose the pump close enough to the rim portion for operation of the hand crank alongside the rim portion, the lower portion 01": said Aboss being offset inwardly with reference to the upper portion,l whereby to dispose the suction conduit -in properly spaced relation to the rim portion of the hood for entry interchangeably through the differently located top openings in different containers;

STANLEY H. HoBsoN. 

